I AM TRYING TO PROTECT YOU ALL! So, please Please Let me go
by StillIRise
Summary: Part One of "Teen Avengers, Go!" Universe. Its a nonlinear story. / "I don't want to be with any of you. I never wanted to be a part of this and I'm so tired of pretending." Bruce's eyes narrowed and he hissed like an angry cat, strangely absent of any green flush, "Newsflash: Pretending to be a family doesn't make us one. I don't want to be here."


_Well I'm waiting on the day_  
 _When the people walk free to see_  
 _When the penitentiary is on fire_  
 _When there's no need_  
 _To bleed_  
 _For your mother or your brother_

-Penitentiary by Citizen Cope

 _Flashback:  
_

 _"Where are you going?" a feminine voice asked, making Bruce turn._

 _"Not planning to leave so soon, Brucie? C'mon. The party's just getting started," Stark, no, Tony joked._

 _"I'm just... not cut out for this whole team thing. I mean... I'm the monster parents warn their kids about each night."_

 _" You think you're the only monster on the team? You think your the only one with a lot of red on your ledger?" she asked, eyes so even, so steady, it made him look away._

 _"Ooh. Ooh," Tony added, clapping mockingly, ""I'm pretty sure I beat both your kill counts. I mean war weapons specialist here."_

 _Bruce said tightly, "This isn't funny. I'm a... liability in the field, a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off."_

 _"Then, walk, Banner," Tony said, more seriously. Natasha threw a sharp look at him, but he ignored it. "Walk out that door, just waiting for anything that can set you off. Run and hide, but I can guarantee that it won't help you be the man that can look at himself in the mirror in the morning."_

 _"Being on this team will help me lo_ ok at myself in the mirror in the _morning?" He said sarcastically "It will just magically cure me?"_

 _"No," Natasha answered honestly, "But for each life you save while you're apart of this team, you'll be that much closer to feeling more like a man and less like a monster."_

 _"I don't belong here," Bruce warned them, helplessly, "I'm not like any of you."_

 _"Look at us?" another voice said and Bruce was startled by Clint dropping down from the air vents, "A man with a bow." He gestured to himself, then pointed to Thor and Steve as they entered, "an alien, a lab experiment, a man in metal, a child spy. We're all freaks, man. A hulking green figure is just a new piece to the unfinished puzzle."_

 _"Aye," Thor said, eyes gentle, "The giant green beast is a much needed ally in these dark times."_

 _" As long as you want to be here, Bruce," Steve shrugged, clapping him on the shoulder, eyes so steady and strong that Bruce flushed, feeling overwhelmed, "You will always have a place here. You will always be an Avenger."_

 _" Ok," Bruce said, wide-eyed and warm, "I'll stay... as long as you'll have me."_

 _End Flashback_

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, shaking Bruce from his memories.

"You understand what its come down to, son?" Ross questioned, keeping his hand firm on Bruce's shoulder.

The hand weighed on Bruce, heavy and restraining in a way that screamed _The hunting game ends now._ _I own you, son, and if I have to_ _start_ _hunting your little friends to prove it, I can and I will._

"I need to talk to them," Bruce begged. "Let me talk to them one last time."

 _" You think you're the only monster on the team? You think your the only one with a lot of red on your ledger?" she asked, eyes so even, so steady, it made him look away._

"They'll leave you alone, I swear it," Bruce said.

 _"Aye," Thor said, eyes gentle, "The giant green beast is a much needed ally in these dark times."_

"They won't come after you."

 _"We're all freaks, man. A hulking green figure is just a new piece to the unfinished puzzle."_

Bruce ran a hand through his ragged hair, "They won't come after me."

"I don't doubt that, son," Ross said, voice warm and paternal. It made Bruce sick, made The Hulk want to smash.

It made Bruce want to run to his team. It made him want bury himself inside their kindness and and never leave, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't risk the few people in the world that he cared about. He couldn't be selfish. He could have stayed, forever pretending to be one of them, pretending to be a hero that saved rather destroyed. He wasn't a hero. He was a monster and... and...

 _" As long as you want to be here, Bruce," Steve shrugged, clapping him on the shoulder, eyes so steady and strong that Bruce flushed, feeling overwhelmed, "You will always have a place here. You will always be an Avenger."_

What he couldn't do, what he refused to do was ask them to die for a monster.

"Okay," Bruce said, voice shaky, "Okay. Then ten minutes?"

"Make it five."


End file.
